The government will use acrylic polymer, a cutting-edge nanotechnology product that respects the environment, to reduce road construction costs by 30 percent, in addition to guaranteeing safer roads than traditional roads.
According to Fazle Rabbe, an additional chief engineer at the Department of Roads and Motorways, the idea will contribute to two goals of the Sustainable Development Goals related to halving the number of deaths and injuries from road accidents worldwide and providing safe access to systems. affordable, accessible and sustainable modes of transport.
Rabbe noted that the technology is very sustainable for roads that are frequently flooded and remain submerged for long days.
The use of acrylic polymer guarantees that there are no potholes on the roads even in the rainy season, road accidents are reduced and vehicle durability is increased thanks to the smoothness of the roads.
Like plastics, “waterproof” acrylic polymer is “nearly durable,” which increases the carrying capacity of roads.
We hope it will improve the sustainability of the roads in at least 50 years, thus reducing their maintenance costs to a minimum, the official said.
Infrastructure experts say the technology is within Bangladesh’s reach and could be used to build dams and embankments at lower cost and in less time.
Engineer Shahriar Rumi said acrylic polymer is used in the United States, Canada, Australia, Malaysia and several Middle Eastern countries, while India and Bhutan have started using it in road construction.
Bricks and chunks of rock are traditionally used to build roads, but the use of acrylic polymer will make these elements obsolete, meaning the new technology will improve Bangladesh’s air quality by reducing carbon emissions and eliminating the brick-firing process.
A chemical reaction of acrylic polymer with sand and soil creates a nanopolymerized network that forms a special layer whose elastic properties prevent erosion, a common problem on today’s roads, and is also much more resilient than traditional road infrastructure.
Its use would drastically reduce demand for imported stone for road construction in the country, and the surface layer of highways could be built using plastic water bottles, polythene bags and locally produced bitumen mixed at a temperature between 160 and 170 degrees. Celsius
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